Method of making hubs



Patented Apr. 15, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE v CHICEESTER 1. WELDON, OI BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEW DE- PARTURE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORA- TION OF CONNECTICUT Y 'mnrnon or MAKING nuns Application filed March 29, 1927. Serial No. 179,294.

This invention relates to hubs and comprises all the aspects of novelty herein disclosed in connection with a method of making bicycle hubs. Objects of the invention are to provide an improved method of making hubs and a method whereby a satisfactory hub can be made at small expense by draw ing it from tubing. To these ends and to improve generally-and in detail upon methods of this character, the invention further consists in the various matters hereinafter disclosed and claimed.

The invention, in its broader aspects, is not necessarily limited to the particular steps disclosed nor to the particular embodiment selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a seamless tube or sleeve with which the method begins.

Figure 2 is a similar section of the workpiece after the first operation of swaging.

Figure 3 is a section of the piece in a die, with associated parts ready to start the formation of spoke flanges.

Figure 4 is a section to a larger scale of one half of the piece and die with the spoke flanges partly formed by the apparatusof Fi re 3.

igure 5 is a similar section of the piece in another die with associated parts ready to begin a further operation.

Figure 6 is a section indicating the final shaping of the spoke flanges.

Figure 7 is a view of the hub, with the apparatus for piercing the spoke flanges.

Bicycle hubs are usually made of bar stock machined to final shape and are accordingly expensive. It is proposed to make the hub of ductile steel and draw or press it into shape. The numeral 6 indicates a piece of seamless tubing from which the hub is drawn. As a first operation, the middle portion of this tube or sleeve is swaged or necked down as at 8 in Figure 2 to produce end enlargements. This operation may lengthen the tube a little and also thickens the wall of the middleNportion.

' ext the pieces are fed one by one between front and rear half dies 10, one or more of the halves being movable and guided into mating relation with the other by dowel pins 12. The die is composedof spaced apart cylindrical portions 14 and 16 and confines the periphery of the piece everywhere except at annular spaces or recesses 18 forming enlargements nearthe ends ofthe die outside the end enlargements of the piece adjacent to the middle swaged portion. The ends of the die are open to admit plungers 20 which have threaded extensions. 22 detachably secured in an interiorly threaded sleeve 24. The plunger 20 is hollow with bores of two different diameters, one to slidably fit a stem 26 and the other slidably fitting a head 28 on the stem. The outer end of the stem is pinned to a pilot or plug 30 having its outermost face shaped to fit the end of the neckeddown portion 8 of the work-piece to close the bore of the latter. Between the pilot and the plunger 20, there is sleeved, on the stem, a

lock 32 of some material capable of comparatively easy deformation or flow and of regaining its original shape. Rubber is one suitable material.

The lungers, with the associated pilots and de ormable blocks, are simultaneously advanced towards one another to enter the ends of the piece. Each sleeve 24 is threaded on a head 36 abutting against the end of a cylindrical opening in a slide 38. The head has a stem 40 to clamp it to the slide by a nut 42. Each slide has a recess 44 engaged by rounded ends on a forked lever 46 pivoted at 48 on a support 50. The forked levers have their upper ends pivotally connected by toggle'links 52. to a pivot pin 56 on a reciprocating press ram or the like. The reciprocation of the press ram and pin 56 will obviously rock the levers 46 and reciprocate the plungers 20 which accurately fit the iece opposite the cylindrical portions-16 o the die. Upon advance of the plungers, the block 32 is compressed axially and expanded ra dially and this causes the metal to bulge outwardly to occupy the recesses 18-. Upon retraction of the plungers, the block regains its shape and is withdrawn. Each sleeve 24 is adjustable in the opening of the slide 38 and, by its threaded connection with the head 36, provides means to adjust the advanced position of the plunger.

Having a bulge near each end of the piece, the next operation is to form a fold. The necked-down portion 8 of the piece is confined between front and rear half dies and the end portions are allowed to stick out for engagement by plungers, each composed of two parts 62 and 6st. The part 64 is a loose headed plug carried by a member 62 which is threaded externally for' detachable connection with the sleeve Q-Ilabove mentioned or .with another sleeve like it on a second press. Member 62 has a shoulder 66 forming an abutment for the head of the loose plug 64. a second shoulder 68 which engages the end face of the'workpiece, and a third shoulder 7 O which flattens and forms a folded flange of the brilgedpor- 'tion of the piece. The plug 64 fits the interior of the sleeve portion 72 of the work-piece and maintains its bore of the right size to receive the usual ball bearings which go into the finished hub. A cylindrical surface 7 4, between the shoulders 68 and 7 0, confines the outer surface of the sleeve portion 7 2, and a cylindrical surface 76 confines and limits the outer periphery of the flange. The folded flange in its flattened condition is indicated in Figure 6. It comprises one web portion '78 which preferably slants outwardlyat an angle of about 55 from the vertical and a second web portion 80 which is more nearly vertical. The inner surface of the web 78 forms an interior shoulder or abutment for the usual ball bearing. Small arcuate or arched portions 82 and 84 join the ,webs to the middle and ends1 of the piece andmake the flange more rigi v The final step is the piercing of the spoke flanges to receive the usual wire spokes. Mating half dies 86 and 88 at the front and rear of the piece confine it between the folded flanges and have, at each end, punch recesses 90 arranged in axial alignment with two circular series of punches 92 attached to plates 94, operated, if desired, by the slides 38. The punches may have coned portions 96 to form a small countersink. The spoke holes lie outside of the arched portions 84 of the spoke flanges. The piercing of the spoke holes can be successfully accom lished without danger of cracking the metal ecause the grain of the metal has been made to follow the folds. In prior hubs with no definite grain structure, it has been necessary to bore the spoke holes.

I claim:

1. The method of forming a flanged hub which consists in swaging down the middle portion of a sleeve, confining the sleeve against a change in shape except at an annular space near the end ortion, expanding said end portion to cause it to bulge outwardly into said space, and collapsing said bulged ortion by axial pressure to form a folded ange; substantially as described.

2. The method of forming a hub which consists in swaging down the middle portion of a seamless tube to produce end enlargements, confining the tube externally except at annular spaces outside the end enlargements, expanding the enlargements at said spaces, and collapsing the expanded portions by axial pressure to form external folded flanges and internal shoulders; substantially as described.

3. The method of forming a hub which consists in swaging down the middle portion of a seamless tube to produce end enlargements, confining the tube externally except at annular spaces outside the end enlargements and adjacent to the middle swaged portion, and expanding portions of the end enlargements into said spaces; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aifix my signature.

CHICHESTER P. WELDON. 

